Task Force Bill Becomes Law Without Weicker's Signature

June 16, 1992|By LARRY WILLIAMS; Capitol Bureau Chief

In a rare move, Gov. Lowell P. Weicker Jr. has allowed a bill to become law without his signature. The measure will create a task force to improve the state's effort to get federal aid for state programs.

The governor did not explain his decision, but his press secretary said a task force with only two gubernatorial appointees among 28 members did not "need a gubernatorial signature."

Rep. Miles S. Rapoport, D-West Hartford, who sponsored the bill, said he understood the governor had reservations that a task force would overlap with a similar group already within the executive branch.

"I think the administration's initial attitude was, `We're doing this, and we don't need any legislative cooks in the broth,' " Rapoport said. "But I think many people had the view that additional legislative involvement could be helpful."

Rapoport ventured into the governor's office on a rescue mission last week when he heard the bill was in jeopardy.

Of the 275 bills that have become law this year, it is the only one to travel through the constitutional door that allows a governor to register an objection but stop short of vetoing a bill. Weicker used the same provision last year when he let a bill that raised interest rates and fees on certain loans become law by his inaction.

His predecessors also rarely used this device, although in one celebrated case, Gov. Thomas J. Meskill let the first income tax become law in 1971 without his signature. It was later repealed.

The idea for a task force on federal funds came from the Commission on Children.

Nancy S. Sconyers, a commission spokeswoman, said new federal laws offer more Medicaid funds to states that do a good job of early childhood testing and diagnosis of health and learning problems.

"We're way behind," she said of Connecticut's effort to improve its screening program